THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE
Official Photograph, U. S. Army Air Service
AWE-INSPIRING WHEN VIEWED FROM THE SURFACE, THE GRAND CANYON REVEALS
NEW GRANDEURS THROUGH THE AIRMAN'S CAMERA
For a description and map of the great gorge of the Colorado, a glimpse of which is here
given west of El Tovar, see "Surveying the Grand Canyon of the Colorado," by Lewis R.
Freeman, in the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE for May, 1924.
fall-not heavy, but just enough to cause
considerable discomfort and necessitate
the continual wiping of our goggles.
When we were over the northern part of
the Ozarks the lights became very few.
We would see three lights, then two
lights, and finally but one light; then this
last light would disappear.
UNCERTAINTY OF FLYING IN DARKNESS
Few people realize that flying is prac
tically impossible unless there is some ex
terior fixed point that the pilot may use
to obtain a sense of balance or position.
If there is no horizon, no light nor any
fixed object, a pilot cannot tell the position
that the plane is in except from the in
struments in the cockpit. When the lights
all disappeared, there was nothing to do
but watch and fly by the instruments
alone. It did no good to look outside;
there was nothing to see but opaque
blackness.
A pilot can fly by the instruments for
a certain length of time, probably 15 min
utes, but he would be very apt to become
confused and lose his sense of balance
entirely if there were no fixed point that
he could see within 20 minutes.
The pilot watches the air speed instru
ment, he watches his compass, he watches
his bank and turn indicator, and he must